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Shutting One Door, Keeping others Open

UPDATED ON 8/20/21: Facebook, Patreon and Blog IG pages have been shutdown/discontinued As the COVID pandemic rages on and cons are even shutting down into 2021, it got me thinking on a drive home one night about how I'd feel with even coming back to blogging. When cons eventually do come back at some point. Truth be told, many of the posts and content I shared here could be transferred over to more discussions via my podcast CosplayBytes. I've been blogging my love for games, cons and cosplay for 7 years now and maybe it's time to say goodbye for now? My podcast has gotten me some incredible opportunities as a member of Press for conventions, and the rapid love I've had for streaming is also taking up a lot of time now. On top of multiple personal things on my end, I don't think I have the energy to keep this up even post COVID you know? The very first cosplay centered post I wrote was on Jessica Nigri's Deadpool, and since then it's spawned over 800 posts

Cosplay Showcase: Yaya Han's Camilla

Photo by Dave Yang

If you've been following Yaya Han the past few months, you'll probably realize how huge she's been in the Fire Emblem series. From the recent 3DS entries to the new mobile game that launched, Yaya's gone crazy over the franchise. To me it was a dead ringer/perfect match when she announced she'd be cosplaying the waifu to end all waifu wars, Camilla. The sultry Nohr princess is someone Yaya had an instant attraction to, not just in the waifu nature but Camilla's personality of being a big sister hit home for Yaya. Mainly in that she views herself as a big sister figure to the cosplay world which I truthfully see as a solid comparison. Yaya has grown in both her cosplay business and in making cosplay widely popular at the scale it is now. Camilla was debuted at Katsucon this past February and I did get to see this in person but for like 5 seconds XD. Yaya was looking busy/in the middle of getting to an area so I didn't want to bother her.

Much like Karlibra's Camilla I featured last month, Yaya went with the classic/default skin for her (though I believe she will be tackling the bunny suit revealed in FE: Heroes so YAY!). Same outfit but different techniques/materials were used. For example, where Karli used Worbla for the main breastplate, Yaya it seems used a combination of thick fabric and a corset for the lower section of this piece. Here, you'll see black and gold make a return for the base color scheme with dark purple seen in Yaya's neck covering. The only armor bits I see are if you travel down near her legs on the side of her thighs. Most likely these were done with EVA foam which I'll explain down below!

Photo by Joseph Chi Lin
As it turns out, the armor breastplate is composed of small foam pieces fused together with black leather like fabric sewn on top of it. The kneecap armor was also done/sculpted out of foam. Most of the info I have to share with you is coming from Yaya's direct site/portfolio section which I'll link down at the end! The light purple wig is beyond spot on as is the small black crown resting at the top. Figure wise, Yaya has the perfect look for Camilla, top to bottom. The massive battle axe was constructed out of a special quality foam and PVC pipes.

She also notes that the fabric used for this cosplay came from her own line which you can find at any Jo-Ann craft store thanks to their partnership. The small gold studs on the gloves pull the cosplay together nicely and I truly love the bottom areas here. More accurately, the red and black chest strap is small so it's mostly buried in Yaya's bust.  The boots/heels are pitch black in color and the tabard piece is again see through much like Karlibra's version. Purple gloves, and other hints of that color can be seen upon further inspection of the cosplay. I'm also totally in love with the gold trims that are seen throughout. This being worn at Katsucon, you can bet that the photos are nothing short of fantastic. I really wish I was able to chat with Yaya while she was wearing this so hopefully another opportunity will appear this year!

Material List:
2mm + 3mm Craft Foam
EVA Foam
Fabrics from Yaya's cosplay fabric line
Purple Wig
Gold and Black paint
Red trim
Red contacts

Photo by Brian Boling
Photo by Destiny's Curse Photography
Photo by Judith Stevens Photography
Photo by Martin Wong
Photo by Brian Boling

If I missed any parts of the construction or materials, you can find all of it in Yaya's portfolio site in the link below. Under that is of course a link to her cosplay page if you somehow haven't visited it yet!
http://yayahan.com/portfolio/costumes/camilla-fire-emblem-fates
https://www.facebook.com/yayacosplay/

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